The L.A. Times music blog

Phantom Planet is going on hiatus after show at the Troubadour tonight

December 12, 2008 | 2:07
pm

Sad news for fans of snappy power-pop and snazzy fedoras: The L.A. quartet Phantom Planet is playing its last show at the Troubadour tonight, after 15 years (!) together. Music supervisors across the L.A. Basin will be extra bummed by this development, as they became something of a go-to act for any film or TV series that needed something "indie." I spent some time with them at a taping of, fittingly, Josh Schwartz's "Rockville, CA" a while back and everything seemed cool, but the band had this to say about it on their blog last month:

This could be the most difficult piece of news we have ever had to
post. Sadly, Phantom Planet will be playing our last show, December 12,
at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the same venue that we played our
very first live all ages gig, back in 1994. We have had an amazing time
playing together for 15 years, but we have officially decided to go on
hiatus, and will not be playing any more live shows or making any new
records, indefinitely. There is so much more to write, but at this
time, we just want to say thank you, to everyone, for their support,
friendship, inspiration, attendance, and love.

-alex, darren, jeff and sam.

The band initially turned heads for having Jason Schwartzman as its drummer, then for penning the O.C. theme song, and had recently tried a third act in the Fueled by Ramen stable. The Troubadour will likely be packed to the hilt with sad-eyed Seth Cohen acolytes, so for old times' sake, here's that piano riff that signaled so much deliciously wan teen melodrama for so many of you crazy kids.